Housing and social inclusion / exclusion

A study carried out on behalf of the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) assessed the relevance of the concept of social exclusion for Australian housing policy. This article summarises the findings of the study. It discusses problems with the definition of social exclusion and its lack of precision, the connection of social housing with social exclusion and inclusion and the possible resultant stigmatisation of social housing, and ways of differentiating between exclusion from housing and through housing. It concludes that there is a danger that the term social exclusion is becoming a label for the symptoms rather than contributing anything towards policy solutions for social housing.